#PickCider Review: Austin Eastciders' Blood Orange

Bonus review this week just to help us count down to July 4th! I want to highlight as many summer ciders as possible, so we can all #pickcider for the upcoming holiday.

Here are my previous special Summer #PickCider reviews.

Citizen Cider's Companion: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/06/pickcider-review-citizen-ciders.html

Mainiac Blueberry: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/06/pickcider-review-of-rickers-hard-cider.html

Gumption's Citrus Freak: http://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2017/06/pickcider-review-of-gumption-hard.htmlToday's review is Austin Eastciders' Blood Orange. 

This review marks my first taste of Austin Eastciders, and my first experience of cider with orange included, so I'm pretty excited to taste something doubly new. Again, an aside, This was shared with me as a review sample. This doesn't ever change how I interpret a cider.

https://austineastciders.com/

The official description reads, "We blended blood oranges from Italy with bittersweet heirloom apples to create a cider with a zesty twist. With just the right amount of sweet and citrus flavors, our Blood Orange Cider is sure to brighten your day." 5% ABV

The other fascinating feature on the page about this cider is a simple mixed drink recipe designed to use this exact cider. It's called The Bigger Better Cider and its worth a trip to the website just to check this out. 

https://austineastciders.com/products/blood-orange-cider

I took a can of this cider to a casual wedding reception, just so I could get in a review with some awesome summer party food pairings. Congrats again Sarah and Mara! The beautiful table decorations were a bonus.

Appearance: Cloudy, sunny orange, ring of small bubbles

This is one of the more cloudy ciders I've seen from the United States. As the photo shows, the color is a fun sunny orange and the only visible bubbles ring the glass at the cider's surface.

Aromas: champagne, mimosa, orange, wood

The Blood Orange smells like apple, orange, wood. Not like orange juice, but instead with a slightly champagne-esque note. Pleasant.

Sweetness/dryness: sweet but after an initial zing of bitter

I love the action in this sweetness curve. The Blood Orange pops with a gentle hit of citrusy bitter that soon mellows into easy honeyed sweetness.

Flavors and drinking experience: sweet, peppery, lots of orange, fruity

The first note is bitter and black peppery, and that quickly gives way to sweetness that lingers pleasantly. High acid but the acid is citric, not malic. My tongue puckers a bit. A long aftertastes that reminds me of Orangina.No tannins, despite the bitterness. Manages to be both crisp and warm in its taste. 

This cider is only mildly bubbly. I'm starting to think this is a feature of ciders in cans. Can other canned cider drinkers weigh in on this? 

Overall,  my impressions centered around this cider as sweet, very blood orange and pleasantly complicated by the hint of  bitter and peppery spice.

For pairings, I had this with so many good foods! I had pesto pasta, fresh green salad with pomegranate seeds, Thai-style summer rolls, brie and watermelon. And then cinnamon sugar popcorn and wedding cake. There were so many amazing summer party foods at this wedding potluck! Of those, I really liked the Blood Orange with the summer roll and peanut dipping sauce. Something about sweet citrus plus rice paper, tofu and veggies was out of this world!

As an aside, I feel like I have to share a funny video inspired by my friend Jonathan Honefinger. He makes sommeliers try Malort and captures their reactions. At this reception, I spied a bottle of Malort. Curiousity won the day. Or perhaps the Malort did.

Watch and see...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYFz4pKclyA

Very Perry May Pt. 4: Argus, Viuda De Angelon, Cidrerie Daufresne

Wow,  Cider Friends, I can scarcely believe that we're already at week 4 of Very Perry May! I feel like I've learned a tremendous lot about perry, but there are still whole countries and styles I've not yetBlogger: Along Came a Cider - Edit post touched. The perry journey must continue, and for this week I'm trying three more: a Spanish perry, a French perry, and a gingery perry from Texas.

Viuda De Angelon Sidra du Pera

This is my first Spanish perry. I'd been hearing about it, so when I saw a few bottles at my local beer store (the nice kind of beer store that has a fantastic cider selection) I had to pick one up.

You can find out about both the importer and the producers at the following websites:

http://www.cidersofspain.com/

http://www.sidraviudaangelonpomar.es/

And here's the official description: 

VIUDA DE ANGELON SIDRA DE PERA: a sparkling off-dry perry (pear cider)
330 ml., 5.2% alcohol by volume
Produced by Sidra Viuda de Angelón, Nava, Principado de Asturias
In past centuries in Asturias, an ancient source of excellent cider, they pressed apples or pears. Viuda de Angelon has revived the lost tradition of pear cider to produce this longed-for nectar once again, using estate grown pears.

Appearance: brilliant, straw, bubbly

This perry pours with a mild head. It didn't stick around. The color looks like a lot of ciders with that fresh golden straw color. Brilliant and again very bubbly looking.

Aromas: pear, tart, strawberries
smells like fleshy pear for sure, a tiny bit of tartness in smell, approaching vinegar, but nbot there yet. Berries—strawberries specifically. Spring flowers

Sweetness/dryness: semi sweet

This is pleasantly semi-sweet, with a very fresh and natural sweetness. 

Flavors and drinking experience: high acid, flora, sweet, floral

My first impression is how mild this is for a fermented fruit beverage from Asturias. I associate that style with really bold intense flavors, but this perry is more floral. with only aT tiny bit of brininess and acetic acid. The flavors are gently tropical and spicy with no tannins to speak of. Nice light zesty zippy body. 

 First I can taste the sweetness, which is bright and refreshing with yeasty notes, but two seconds later the warmer, lower notes hit. Its not super funky but there is a certain clean sweatiness to the flavor that's more than a bit exciting.

I had this cider with a fresh pepper and tomato salad, sweet corn, and faux chicken nuggets. These light foods complimented its mildness well.

Argus Ginger Perry

For another first, this is my first Argus beverage, but it won't be my last. Read about the company online at: http://www.arguscidery.com

Here's the official description.

ARGUS FERMENTABLES GINGER PERRY 

Ginger Perry delivers a dry pear palate with a tart bite, finishing bright and a bit spicy at the end. Unpasteurized and unfiltered, Ginger Perry is free of back sweetening and added sugars. Best enjoyed ice cold.

Appearance: bright gold, very bubbly to look at, hazy

Aromas: ginger, cola

The ginger smell comes on quite strong. There's not a lot of detectable fruit.

Dryness/sweetness: off dry

This is very tart and off dry. 

Flavors and drinking experience: tart, stony, tropical fruit

The Ginger Perry tastes extremely tart, astringent, bitter, and stony. Yum yum! There's lots of extremely bright fruit that blooms and blooms, but I don't detect a lot of pear notes. Its impossible to ignore the high acid but its pleasant. 

The fruitiness tastes like pineapple, lime, coconut, with a really nice floral undertone. Not really any tannins, but plenty of extremely powerful bubbles. Not very pear or apple like but fun!

Daufresne Poiré

You can read about the perry and the other beverages by Cidrerie Daufresne on the importer website or the homepage. This bottle was shared with me by the kind folks at Wine Sellers Limited.

http://www.winesellersltd.com/wine/Normandy/Daufresne%20Cidrerie/Daufresne%20Poire%20(Perry)%20Cidre/NV.html

http://cidreriedaufresne.com/

Official description: 

A perry pear is gritty, tannic and acidic, which makes it somewhat similar to a cider apple. But that is where the similarities end. Perry pear tannins tend to be rounder than those found in cider apples, and the pears used for perry have less malic acid than cider apples, resulting in a beverage that is less tart and more delicate. The Daufresne Poiré offers clear, sparkling and persistent effervescence and aromas. Tastes of fresh pear fruit, hints of melon and citrus, natural sediments in glass, rustic with a clean pure sweetness, balanced by refreshing acidity.

Appearance: warmly mellow straw, brilliant, bubbly

This cider looks deep and tannic with its deep and warm shade of gold. Its also going to be plenty bubbly!

Aromas: barny, sweet, fruity

This set of aromas is just classic French perry. It smells funky and farmy, but also sweet and fruity. But also, the perry smells like kola nuts. Smells wet and darkly sweet. 

Sweetness/dryness: sweet

Very fruity sweetness

Flavors and drinking experience: plums, caramel, low acid

Though the aromas of this perry made me think of barns, the taste is anything but funky!  This perry's sparkle is instantly surprising and pleasant. I find the flavors very quintessentially French in their fermentation style: fresh fruit, pear in a fleshy way, overripe apples, water, dark honey. I preferred sips to gulps. This is a perry to savor.

Interestingly, as this perry warmed up, the aromas bloomed into including some plum and even prune notes. Perry has low acid, but maybe some manageable levels of acetic acid. 

I had this with breakfast for dinner and good friends (Phil and Jill who are frequently co-tasters and all around fabulous people). We had Phil's blueberry pancakes, roasted tomato halves with seasoned bread crumbs, and veggie bacon, all with real maple syrup of course. This perry is sweet  and light but not simple, so it set off our breakfast selections in a delightful way.